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Best Idea Ever?

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After a week of trolling the internets about Warp Core Stabilizers I decided to get busy putting a few more awesome Wallpapers together to sooth the hurt feelings of those lazy players determined to annoy me with their low-slot fitting choices. I am a PvPer Pirate people, my opinions are often extremely biased. Let's move on. And Ban WCS!!

Before we move on, I had a great idea yesterday that is bound to make people angry at me once again.

I watched someone do this once. Apparently there is a mini-game within Eve somewhere. I know it has something to do with hacking exploration sites, or something. All I know is, after they were done with it stuff popped out of a can.

Let's just go with the idea of a mini-game. So yesterday I was out and about in space looking for targets to engage, when I entered a system with a Stratios on scan. Just me and him in System. Quickly I determined that he was hiding in a safe spot about 7.9AU from the Sun. He was exactly "over there in that direction" I had him on 5 degree and, if I could do so, I could drive over there. But you can't really do that.

Back in my early days in Null I would often spend a lot of time trying to pin someone who was in a safe spot down using the "back and forth method". This was an extremely time consuming way for a Solo pilot to find someone who didn't want to be found. Normally a person's safe spot is between two celestials. You'd find out which two they were by using the d-scanner, then warp between the two constantly using your 5 degree until the object disappeared. Then you'd immediately drop a bookmark there. When you landed, you'd turn around, warp to that bm - then start again. Increasingly narrowing the search field, back and forth, dropping dozens of bms. Until the target was within burn range.

As nutty as that sounds, it actually worked. Not often mind you. Sometimes the target would wake up and warp off, or you'd overshoot it a bit, or it would have its mwd on the entire time, but it did work sometimes. It was boring work and it took a long time. But what other choice did a Solo pilot have? Plus it was awesome when your hard work resulted in a kill. I remember catching a -A- pilot in a Stabber in HED that way.

There aren't a lot of options for the Solo or Small Gang pilot when it comes to finding ships that don't want to be found.

But what if we had a 'Safe Spot" mini-game? A pretty hard, skill intensive, mini-game that - when a ship is detected on 5 degree d-scan - is activated. Once achieved it reveals a warp enabled signature that will put your ship on grid with the target. Not necessarily on top of it, but on-grid with it. The rest is up to you.

I know what you are saying. I can hear it already. But let's remember that hiding in a safe spot is not supposed to be safe. That's what POS, Stations and logging off are for. And, granted, should such a mini-game exist (which, it never will of course) the amount of safe spot afking will drop significantly.

As a Solo slash Small Gang PvP player I'd like the ability to find those hidden T3/Command Ship Boosters. That is what this is really all about. Right now I have no counter to this annoying Meta that is frankly destroying our play-style. If you don't believe me then you haven't been in our Corp Comms or Chat, I have. And I know exactly what effect this is having on my members. And if it is a topic of discussion in our Corp, then it is everywhere else as well.

So full circle once again. Get boosters on killmails. Get them on-grid. Or give me the tools I need to find them and deal with them ourselves. But something needs to happen. And it needs to happen soon.

Forcing boosters on-grid? Not so sure. A booster is a specialized ship, usually without the power to defend itself against anything. Do they really have to be on grid with the fleet they are boosting? If we force combat boosters on grid, then what about orca/rorqual boosts? A rorqual is better capable of defending itself as any command ship.

I'd prefer more options: on-grid boosts best, off-grid still supported but weaker. Perhaps balanced such that a well fit on-grid booster that can actually fight gives at least the same boost as max off-grid, to encourage on-grid.

"Hidden" off-grid boosts are never completely unprobable so the options for finding them are available. Can push for them to be easier to probe if that's the point you feel is unbalanced.

For new mechanisms, better than a mini-game, a small fleet could be allowed to "triangulate" their dscans from good positions to achieve approximate warp ins. You probably don't like this because you cannot do it "solo". But as a whole, EVE needs more mechanisms for meaningful teamwork and useful variety in fleet roles more than overly contrived minigames for solo situations.

Umm - they already have this system for probing down ships. No need for an additional mini-game. A skilled pilot (RL skill, not just SP player) can probe most ships down in seconds. Yes, the probes on d-scan give that away, but you need to be watching d-scan to catch the probes.

I am working on my scanning skills and trying to figure out a way to be able to probe and also be effective in a single ship, this is extremely challenging with what is available. However, the new T3 Dessies do offer some hope.

Worst of all I agree that something has to be done and I caught myself making similar complains in my corp lately. Not sure what exactly what but any action in game should have a counter, from afk in safe, cloaky afk, hyperdunking and many others. Any action/activity you can do in eve should allow you to counter it, even if hard to counter. Sorry starting to sound bittervet again. :-)

I'm the furthest from being a bittervet, but I also cannot deny that small annoyances tend to add up over time. I also think that the current T3 booster hiding in every system I visit meta is way out of control, with very few counters.

We need to buff it by ignoring stuff we've already implemented in favour of letting one pilot do it all!

You too can pvp, scan, own space, kill supers, all on your own!

For just 1 subscription to the Rixx Javix Solo PVP arena, You can do all of this, in just a frigate!/s

Seriously Rixx, this post is more trollish than the last two combined. "Let's just go with the idea of a mini-game. So yesterday I was out and about in space looking for targets to engage, when I entered a system with a Stratios on scan...I had him on 5 degree and, if I could do so, I could drive over there. But you can't really do that......Plus it was awesome when your hard work resulted in a kill. I remember catching a -A- pilot in a Stabber in HED that way. [Km link here]"

So really, you can do exactly that...

"As a Solo slash Small Gang PvP player I'd like the ability to find those hidden T3/Command Ship Boosters." Do what the rest of EvE does: get a guy in a scan ship, scan it down. It's not like they can tank worth a damn.

No doubt you'll retreat to the 'trolling/provocative' card :P

(NB, still the same anonymous guy, this post is just to point out the incongruity of your post whilst I think on the WCS issue more)

The WCS/T3 Booster/Safe Spot posts this week are all the same thing. And while I'd really enjoy the "Rixx Javix Solo PVP Arena Game" I'm not asking to be able to do everything solo, that would be silly. What I am trying to do is illuminate some seriously skewed game mechanics which are having a significant impact on players. Players I happen to represent in-game.

If one fleet/gang is using a ship dedicated to boosting from a safe, it seems pretty simple for the "hunters" to use a ship dedicated to finding/scanning down said ship. Yes, I understand it's another inconvenience, but the "make my game easier and his game harder" disease seems to be getting out of hand.

While I get where you're coming from, Rixx, I don't think there is much of a need for this. Having a mini-game such as this would put a lot of power in one ship. Everything in Eve has a trade off and it's these trade offs that make the game so unique.

Want to have a lot of armor EHP? Well, you're going to lose some DPS for it.Want a lot of shield EHP? Okay, but we'll direcly cut into how many tackle mods you can have.You want a cloaky T3? Watch as your DPS is cut significantly.You want to use off-grid T3 boosts? Okay, but the ship is going to be paper thin, still find-able and require a lot of training to fly.

No one ship should hold all the power. I appreciate what you do in trying to promote competitive solo pvp, I really do. I just don't think that a mini-game allowing players to magically find another player's safe spot is the way to do it.

Nor do I actually. It is rather ludicrous. However, I still think the balance is in favor of multiple/alt account boosters right now and I'd like to see something given to help balance that out. Even just a little.

I am not sure I get this completely. Rixx are you one of those strange (and rare) vets who only roll one account? an alt in corp, hell a scanning alt (in an npc corp) as squad commander could have the necessary skills to combat probe, and fly a cov-ops cloaked stratios in really short order. being in fleet would even give you a chance for "leadership bonuses" bit more ehp and agility are always nice.

The comment about narrow beam dscanning really got me thinking though on a different issue. That combined with Gelvon's rant about freighters in HS and the commentary on bumping made me think. wouldn't it be interesting if there was a red button on your warp drive. Big ol letters saying "DO NOT PRESS" that if you weren't scrammed or bubbled could warp you some distance (maybe random) in any direction while, for instance causing structure damage, or head buildup in all racks? you drop from warp with screaming speed (though not too high or you could never align again before someone caught up) and a cooldown on the button. hell even make it bloom your sig radius when used so that it was balanced in you being easier to scan down.

Now I admit that this doesn't solve the issue of probing down off grid boosts, but it would make the bump the $*(* out of a ship to keep it on grid (or at least out of warp) without aggression mechanic go away. maybe add some tweaks to keep it last ditch like messing with your warp drive enough that you cant land within 10 km of your target for some time (keeps the freighter in system and warping around till they can do it accurately) Wouldn't change mechanics too much anywhere but HS.. want to keep anything smaller than a super on grid? bump and disrupt (would not stop normal warps point to point) only people who would have issues with this are hs freighter gankers who rely on the non aggression of bumping.

just a random thought inspired by yours, and gelvon's (along with lots of other people on that second part)

And your idea just goes to show that there are so many ideas that could tackle this issue, it isn't ideas we have a lack in, it is commitment to fixing the problem that seems to be lacking. Indeed, it would be difficult to know there was a problem considering the lack of discussion it seems to merit.

You know I got to thinking about this more (really I need to actually start blogging about this stuff on the blog, but meh) it would create some interesting issues. Lets say that one obvious implementation would be you initiate this thing and it creates a warp tunnel that empties your capacitor. so your warp distance could be absolutely huge. On the one hand this is good. its a reason not to use it unless you HAVE to. On the other... Imagine someone in a really optimized ship with tons of cap batteries. they come into a system, point themselves away from the orbital plane and hit the go button. a couple hundred AU later they come out of warp, in system but vastly away from anything. then just for good measure they let their cap charge again align at an angle and go one more time. That is a safe spot that while probable technically would be impossible, practically, to find. Plant a player in a command ship there and that booster could never be found.

of course as someone who is in the middle of training an alt on a different account into command ships (BC 5 is all she needs at this point) I would love that. as someone who would want to hunt me. it sucks.

Years ago there was a technique in Eve for creating "Deep Safes", I still have a few of them bookmarked in a few systems. But CCP put an end to the technique and deep safe spots don't mean the same thing that they used to. But everytime I go into Old Man's Star it is fun to warp about 275AU off grid, just for old time's sake.

",,,if it is a topic of discussion in our Corp, then it is everywhere else as well." ...everywhere else... huh? This topic that 'off grid boosters being unbalanced' has never come up in our corp,.. and you once again shoot your own foot by then stating, "...considering the lack of discussion it seems to merit.

Stay Frosty is a great corp and I really do think very highly of you and all you have accomplished in EVE (and THAT has come up on comms in our corp BTW) but Stay Frosty is not all of EVE man... You know, because EVE is a sandbox... so many different players, so many different playstyles...

"I am unable to dual-box." really? please 'splain Lucy... what is it? do you little Tyrannosaurus arms or what? Anyone can dual box.. I dual box on a shitty 3yo 4GB laptop FFS... and dual boxing a scan alt, used only to scan down safed up boosters is easy... after you have the BM, leave him cloaked up and forget him until you need him again... cripes man, quit trying to change the game for all of us because of your supposed/desired limitations on your personal gameplay...

However, I am well aware that my corner of the universe is not all of Eve. And I have never, ever made that claim. Mostly because to do so would be extremely silly. No one supports the sandbox more than me.

Eve is a sandbox and Eveoganda is a Soapbox.

I am unable to dual box, not because of technical limitations, but because of choice. This is a choice I have talked about many, many times in these pages. So I don't feel the need to explain it once again.

And no, I will continue to try and change the game for the better. I've been doing that since day one and I see no reason to stop now. I feel, rightly or wrongly, that I've had a part to play in the evolution of a game that I enjoy playing and I won't stop beating the drums for issues that I believe need to be addressed. Sorry, but I won't stop.

I do hope you continue to argue against me, I learn a lot from your comments and appreciate you.

Oh do not worry my friend... I will no more stop arguing than you will stop doing that thing you do...

I often sit back after hitting [post] on a comment and I see us in my minds, both standing on our soapboxes, facing each other across the Town Square... trying to get anyone to gosdammit stop and LISTEN for a minute!!! LOL

I greatly enjoy our mental jousting here, and I too learn from you as you play a part of the game I do not... and you see then game through eyes I share not... and all of this is, I truly believe, all for the good of this amazing game we both love so dear.

I know you are passionate and deeply invested in EVE, your playstyle and the friends you have made here... same as I. We share this passion and investment in EVE and I greatly respect that, and always will.

To paraquote Sugar Kyle... keep on doing it crazysauce style man!

Ok enough making nice...

BTW your 'choosing' not to dual box is not a limitation, IE something you 'can't' do...it's a choice and that is a very different thing than "I can't"... and you know it... =]

rixx, about warfare links and offgrid boosting ships. pvp ships being boosted should have an icon, ie nothing more complicated than a little symbol in the corner of the box that says they are boosted which is enough info to let a solo player decide whether to engage or not. and for those who try to get a boost after they begin a fight the symbol blinks and they automatically lose lock for 5 seconds? which gives u enough time to run or kill them if you want to.

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